Mission

Downtown Little Rock Partnership began focusing on downtown Little Rock Main Street’s empty buildings and boarded up windows nine years ago. They formed a task force that has met monthly to guide plans for streetscape, safety and incentives for use of existing structures to spur development. The Main Street Food Truck Festival was created to support Downtown Little Rock Partnership in that process and to bring people back to Main Street.

Since the festival began, numerous businesses and restaurants have made the 300 block their home. The list includes Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill, Bruno’s Italian Restaurant, Soul Fish Café, Brewski’s Pub & Grub, Allsopp and Chapple, CJRW, Waymack and Crew, and Acxiom. New restaurant A.W. Lin’s is scheduled to join soon. The heart of Main Street has been named the Main Street Creative Corridor and is also home to Ballet Arkansas, Cranford Co., the Little Rock Technology Park and others. A theater education class space for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre has opened across from the main theater on Main Street along with Handle Barbershop, Bella Vita Jewelry, and photography studios around the corner. Three Fold Noodle and Dumpling opened in 2017, in the refurbished Arkansas Democrat building.

Past festivals have caught the eye of online magazine vacationidea.com, and the event has been listed as one of the top ten “Best Food Truck Festivals in the United States.” It has also received numerous ALFIE awards, including 2018 Festival of the Year, which is presented by Arkansas Festival & Events Association. Arkansas Times readers have voted the MSFTF as one of the top food festivals in Arkansas. In 2017, the Main Street Food Truck Festival was named an official “Southern Travel Treasure” by AAA Southern Traveler.